"Neither here nor there"

March 04, 2017

The house is next to a State Park where the rivers,animal life and forests are protected by law.

There's no electricity,phone signal,or motor noises and the nearest house is about 300m on the other side of the river.I've been living here for the past month and this is where 3 of our best friends spent the Carnaval holidays with us.Our days as one family could not have been better well lived.On our last morning together , we had our best breakfast enjoying the intimacy, warmth and harmony reserved for relationships like these.Afterwards, each of us settled down separately , surrendering to both lethargy and contentment.It was then that Hari asked me to paint her face. We did this many times before and it has always been child's play for both me and her.This time something different happened.I told her to lay down on our futon in the middle of the room and started painting her face with a brush following her instructions as usual.Shortly after, I realized that this time I was taking it seriously , feeling something similar to my state of mind when I'm drawing on someone before the tattoo.The house was in complete silence, and all I could hear was the river,lots of birds and the breeze coming in through the doors and windows as the cloudless morning became warmer and warmer.My focus became shaper as my hand gently touched her face with the brush,understanding what the simple geometry already there wanted my next step to be.As my mind became more and more empty ,I started whispering to her what I was going to do next ,knowing that all she could do was try to imagine what her face looked like in her own mind.At this point she was still trying to resist closing her eyes, and I will not forget how peaceful she looked as she finally surrendered.This image was taken during these moments when she was about to enter the "in between" stage of things.As she slept I finished what she had asked me to do, fascinated by the serene look on my daughter's face. Silently and respectfully I moved away from her space.Feeling neither "here" nor "there" as I waited for her to come back...